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Toy with Me
"Toy with Me" is one of two stories included in the Darkwing Duck Annual, which was published on March 3, 2011. Summary Aloysius J. Mandelbaum, inventor of Whiffle Boy and involuntarily retired, receives a visit from Jack, who introduces himself as a former employee of Quackwerks and a fan of Whiffle Boy back in its early days. Mandelbaum is delighted to have company from someone else who appreciates the 16-bit era and invites him in to tell his story. On Jack's advice, he gets the molecular digitizer out of storage and makes a few adjustments that could help him out of his current situation. Just when it's done, though, Jack reveals himself to be Quackerjack and uses the adjusted molecular digitizer on its creator, turning Mandelbaum into a doll. Quackerjack is delighted with both the results and his revenge on the creator of Whiffle Boy, and aims to make all twelve million subscribers of World of Whifflecraft his next victims. Mandelbaum's disappearance is noticed soon enough. The police thinks he's abducted, but Darkwing Duck, upon spotting the Mandelbaum doll, realizes that the doll is Mandelbaum and that Quackerjack has to be behind it. Because Quackerjack has gotten more ruthless since Quackwerks and now apparently cant urn people into toys, the crimefighter is worried about his next move and wonders if he knows anyone that could help him get in contact with Quackerjack. Launchpad notes that Quackerjack only ever had the company of his doll, which he lost a year ago. This gives Darkwing the idea to go find the doll to draw Quackerjack out, but the first stumbling block is that they can't remember its name. Fortunately for them, Gosalyn and Honker have brains of their own and with some searching find Mr. Banana Brain online at an internet auction by Sparky_99. Darkwing, overconfident as always, pushes Honker aside to handle the auction himself, only to lose the doll at a price of $90 to someone else. Fortunately once more, Honker is able to get "her" address. Meanwhile, a crate as gift from an admirer arrives at the Whiffle Boy Entertainment offices. It bursts open to reveal Quackerjack and the molecular digitizer. His first act is to turn the two employees who just happen to be in front of him into toys as warning to the others. He demands the servers be brought to him and explains that he plans to use the network to reach everyone playing World of Whifflecraft with his weapon's ray, destroying the fans of the videogame franchsie he hates so much and filling the world with toys in one go. Darkwing arrives at the outbidder's house that evening and is taken aback greatly when the "criminal" turns out to be a woman named Claire who invites him in for cake. When questioned about the doll, she answers she can't give it to him because she needs it to help her once-boyfriend, Quackerjack. Even more taken aback by this revelation, Darkwing has many questions Claire is sportingly willing to indulge. She elaborates that she met Quackerjack when they both worked at Quackwerks and that Quackerjack was happy at his job at first until stress, his odd social skills, paranoia, and rejection of his ideas pushed him over the edge an he went back to being a criminal. Claire wants to help him by reuniting him with Mr. Banana Brain, which she saw pictures of in Quackerjack's scrapbooks, to remind him of better times. Just as she finishes her story, the package arrives and moments later Gosalyn calls to report on the events at the Whiffle Boy Entertainment offices as the news covers the case. She also notes that everyone playing World of Whifflecraft has been warned to go offline, which Claire translates as meaning that Quackerjack is going to use the servers to get at the entire Whiffle Boy fanbase. Given her earlier story, Darkwing promises Claire that he will not treat Quackerjack as a villain but instead will work on a solution that will also help him out of his current state of mind. In return, Claire entrusts Mr. Banana Brain to him. At Whiffle Boy Entertainment, Quackerjack is getting impatient about the servers and considers turning a few more employees into toys to get the IT people to wrok faster. Darkwing crashes into the office through the roof and after his intro shtick, has Mr. Banana Brain do the talking. Quackerjack is happy to see his old friend better and is almost convinced to part ways with New New Mr. Banana Brain when the servers come in. He slaps Mr. Banana Brain away and sics his toys on Darkwing. Mr. Banana Brain and New New Mr. Banana Brain end up on the wires of the molecular digitizer, so when Quackerjack activates the machinery, they are hit by its power. They grow in size until three times the height of an average person and gain sapience. The two begin fighting over Quackerjack, nearly ripping him apart as they each grab hold of an arm of his. Darkwing quickly takes out the toys holding him down and aims the molecular digitizer on the two dolls, returning them to their old form. However, Quackerjack is launched through the window when he's suddenly let go. Darkwing follows him to tell him to return to Claire, but the jester is already gone. He retruns to the office and finds the weapon to have a reverse function, which he promptly uses on the employees turned toys and plans to use on Mandelbaum. Quackerjack makes it back to Claire's house on his own volition. Looking wistfully at the front door, he pulls a miniature molecular digitizer from his pocket and uses it on himself. Claire is alerted by a flash of red light outside and rushes out, only to find a Quackerjack doll with a note reading "This is the best I'll ever be. — Jacky" Cast Notes References * World of Whifflecraft is a reference to the 2004 MMORPG World of Warcraft. * The front cover of the comic is a reference to both the comic and DVD cover of Batman: The Killing Joke Continuity * Whiffle Boy and the molecular digitizer were introduced in the Season 1 episode "Whiffle While You Work". * In "Whiffle While You Work", the pride of Whiffle Boy Entertainment was Whiffle Town. Launchpad refers to it as Whiffle City, meaning it's gotten bigger. * While not confirmed, Sparky_99 can be no one but Megavolt, meaning he collected the pieces of Mr. Banana Brain after Negaduck destroyed the doll and repaired it. Why in a year time he never returned it to Quackerjack is a mystery, but selling it online might be financially sound revenge for Quackerjack's treatment of him in "The Duck Knight Returns, Part 3". * In the Boom! Studios comics, Quackerjack gets better in "Dangerous Currency, Part 2". In the Joe Books comics, right now he's still a doll. Errors * Why are Mandelbaum and Quackerjack in toyform just dolls but are the employees-turned-toys mobile? * In both versions, Darkwing claims to have never before jumped in through a window. This is false, as he did so prior in "Beauty and the Beet" and possibly in "In Like Blunt". * In both versions, it is not explained where the miniature molecular digitizer comes from. * The doorknob on Claire's frontdoor is consistently on the left side when viewed from the the street, but suddenly is on the right when Claire comes rushing out. Other * The Darkwing Duck: The Definitively Dangerous Edition version of "Toy with Me" changes the story in the following ways: ** Claire goes from leaving the end-responsibility of his behavior with Quackerjack to actively blaming the environment at the toy department, going so far as to call it "toxic" and painting Quackerjack as completely innocent of things not working out. This change may have been brought forth by behind-the-scenes difficulties between Ian Brill and Aaron Sparrow, with the Boom! Studios version by Brill talking about Sparrow and the Joe Books version by Sparrow talking about himself.Aaron Sparrow on "Toy with Me" at The Old HauntDarkwing Duck – The Definitively Dangerous Edition in Review at Review or Die References External links * Toy with Me at I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Category:Boom! Studios